SpaceX’s Dragon capsule makes its way back to Earth from the ISS

SpaceX’s Dragon capsule makes its way back to Earth from the ISS

[Update March 19th] The SpaceX Dragon capsule has successfully departed the ISS, which released the capsule successfully earlier today, after which the Dragon successfully deployed it chutes to make it’s way back to Earth, or more specifically, the Pacific Ocean.

You can catch up with the full departure via our Twitter moment below.

[Original] Astronauts above the International Space Station (ISS) will release the Dragon cargo spacecraft early tomorrow morning (March 19th), sending back with it more than 5,400 lbs of experiments and equipment.

This comes after SpaceX launched the spacecraft aboard their Falcon 9 rocket from Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center on February 19th. It then berthed with the station a few days after on February 23rd.

If everything goes to plan, the journey back will be much, much shorter.

The coverage will kick off of 8:45 AM GMT, after which point the French astronaut Thomas Pesquet and American astronaut Shane Kimbrough will send the command to release the spacecraft from the ISS’ robotic arm, Canadarm2 at 9:11 AM GMT.

It is then expected that the Dragon will splashdown on Earth in the Pacific Ocean at 2:54 PM GMT.

Shortly after that splashdown, representatives from NASA and the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space will take the completed experiments from the craft for analysis, which are being shipped alongside equipment that is no longer in use.

The initial release will be broadcasted on NASA’s TV channel, however, the deorbit burn and splashdown broadcast will not be broadcasted.